Input Devices: Sometimes Clever, Sometimes Strange

Trackballs are useful for people with limited hand control, and for applications that require high speed and accuracy in placing the cursor.

Input Cabinet of Curiosities

Designers have been playfully creative in finding ways for humans to talk to machines. They've given us keyboards, mice, trackballs, joysticks, tablets, switches, gloves, light pens, microphones, cameras, and more. Each is best for a particular application.

It is still an active area for innovation, so watch for even more creative ideas in the future. Brain wave analysis, maybe?

The basic Altair 8800 had only toggle switches and binary lights for input/output. Yet it was the first microcomputer to sell in large numbers: more than 5,000 in the first year. Most customers were hobbyists, who tolerated a primitive interface.

David Evans and Ivan Sutherland formed the first commercial computer graphics company in 1968. This digitizing tablet for their Picture System interactive drawing machine used a stylus to enter graphical data.

Early light pens were not accurate enough for graphics. John Ward designed a pen with a focusing lens for the ESL Display Console (“The Kludge”). It was used for some of the earliest computer graphics research.